Development of Aerobic Microbial Granules to Enhance the Performance of Activated Sludge Technology for Wastewater Treatment Application

Abstract

Batik industry is one of textile industries in Indonesia generally in small and medium scale and has not good management of by-products in the form of wastewater. Wastewater from batik industry consist of complex and toxic pollutants hence need to be treated in order to support the development of environmentally friendly sustainable industry. Some researches have treated batik wastewater using conventional biological treatment such as anaerobic and activated sludge but optimal results have not been obtained. This research aims to develop a compact aerobic microbial granule with good endurance, which also rich in carbon and nutrient oxidizer bacteria to treat batik wastewater. Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) with volume of 8 L fed with Acetate (COD = 900-1000mg/L), then aerated for 180 minutes. Settling time variation was from 20 to 3 minutes, with 50% liquid withdrawal. In the 4 weeks operation there is increasing of MLVSS reached on 4760 mg/L with COD removal reach on 91,94%. The depletion of dissolved oxygen take effect on decreasing of MLVSS and COD removal.